To swan off to the hairdressers during the working day?

[PersonaNonGarter]

Interested to know people’s thoughts on this.

I am employed on a 35hr 9am-5pm 5days a week contract. In reality, no-one in my industry works that - the hours are often long, go into weekends, start early and finish late. The wages generally reflect that.

I am having a very quiet period at work while key clients are on holiday. I booked a hairdressing appointment 9-11am (marked ‘personal appointment’ in my diary) checked with boss that a personal appointment was ok (it was). Appointment went to 11.30am.

Just received a bit of a pass-ag message from my boss suggesting I should book this as a half day’s holiday because ‘11.30 is closer to lunch’. I am not sure that the extra 30mins is really relevant. I don’t want to use holiday.

AIBU?

Meaning she has a good salary, as opposed to being paid by the hour.

Im the same. A good salary, 9–5 on paper but realistically I’m usually working 9-7ish, often much later plus weekends. I don’t get extra pay for extra hours.

In this case I just wouldn't tell your manager next time. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission! But we're all grownups, you can be expected to manage your time when you're working over, so I'd expect you to manage your time when you're not busy, too.

I think if you’re putting in extra hours frequently, you’re entitled to claim a bit of slack when the work load lightens up. Employers should realise happy workers are productive and profitable workers. Quibbling over 30 minutes isn’t worth the potential fallout.

I frequently have hair and beauty appointments during working hours
I work very flexibly and do a lot of unpaid extra hours so it’s justifiable
If any of my staff did this it would be fine if they did as TOIL - as they don’t work over and above their contracted hours

Wow I must be in the wrong job. I don’t even get time for dental or gp apps. If I asked for time for a haircut I would be laughed out the building

Depends on the job I guess
Mine is to answer the phone so whether the phone is ringing or not I have to be present and sat at my desk for 8hrs
Other people could just stop because there is no work

If you were a person who downed tools at 5pm fair enough, when you give extra time for free the payoff is that you receive flexibility in return imo.

And I would reply that I will work the 30 mins back.

I work for an international company, we would have no issue with going to the hairdresser, especially during lunch hours. Some people really are a jobs worth. Our policy is if it doesn’t effect work / standards, crack on!

I did this the other day - was out about hour and half. Made up the hours today by coming in early.
My boss is willing to be flexible because I am too and it works nicely for us both.

DH works long hours into the weekend often. The agreement is like yours take the time back when you can/ are not busy.
How did your boss know it was 11.30 before you were back at your desk?

Despite having a 35hr contract, realistically I do about 50. I occasionally go to the hairdressers during working hours but I take my laptop and tether to my phone so can still work (when not at the sink). I just ensure I don’t have meetings during those times but I can still create presentations, respond to emails and generally work. I don’t feel guilty about it.

Flexibility works both ways. If your work is encroaching on your personal time then your personal time will occasionally bleed into your work time. Your boss is being short sighted picking you up on 30 minutes when you give them free hours every week. Maybe next time book the hairdresser and take it as holiday but that week ensure you only do 9-5pm and take a full hour lunch i.e work to rule.

I think if the boss is perfectly happy for you to start early, finish late and work into weekends when it's busy then they should realise flexibility should work both ways. In reality though I think they'll view a hairdressers appointment totally differently to a medical one.

DH and I work together. One client feels really aggrieved if we wfh where he won't see immediate evidence of us working. Interestingly he doesnt complain when we wfh on weekends and bank holidays when he isn't working to fulfill orders 🙄

I've done this on a quiet day, though it only takes an hour to do my hair and I can cycle to the hairdresser in 5 mins. But then I always eat lunch at my desk (the idea of taking time out for lunch doesn't really happen in my field - you have as long as it takes to make a sandwich at home or pop out to buy one near the office) and always have my phone with me so I can keep an eye on emails at the hairdresser. As PP have said, presenteeism is ridiculous if the work is getting done